SOME would say that translating poetry from one language to another is impossible. Google, however, loves a challenge. The search engine is working on an automatic poetry translation system, and has already translated back into English parts of a French version of Oscar Wilde鈥檚 Ballad of Reading Gaol.
The system is based on a modified version of Google鈥檚 regular translation tool, a popular online method for translating prose. Poems pose a different challenge, however, says Google researcher , based in Mountain View, California. Translations need to match the meter and rhyme used by the poet, be it haiku or iambic pentameter. So Genzel and colleagues have developed algorithms that can search through all possible translations to find those that fit the required form.
The results were presented at the , held last week in Cambridge, Massachusetts. They are, by Genzel鈥檚 admission, a little clunky. 鈥淭his is a first step,鈥� he says. 鈥淲e鈥檙e not seriously proposing today that someone would use this to translate poetry.鈥�
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